Oil on canvas (lined), inscribed on the verso of the original canvas "William Garl Browne. Pinxt. A.D. 1865," presented in the original gilt composition frame with decorative spandrels and an ornate projecting crest, retaining NCMA loan label to the verso.

SS 41.25 x 31 in.; DOA 58 x 43 in.

By descent through the Grimes family.

Exhibited:
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, November 1969.

William Grimes, Jr. was the son of William Grimes and his wife, Elizabeth Hanrahan Grimes. Born on May 1, 1860, he died at the age of five and is buried in the family plot at Raleigh's historic Oakwood Cemetery.

Grimes' father was born on Avon Plantation in Pitt County, NC. After studying at UNC- Chapel Hill and Princeton College in New Jersey, he returned to North Carolina where he earned a stable income from his inherited holding, "Yankee Hall" on the Tar River in Pitt County. In addition to the plantation holding, Grimes also owned the two prominent hotels in 19th century Raleigh, the Yarborough House and the Exchange Hotel. His brother, Brigadier General Bryan Grimes, Jr., gained recognition for his brave actions and leadership during the Civil War.

Born in England, the son of a landscape painter, William Garl Browne, Jr. immigrated to the United States with his father in the late 1830s. After exhibiting a portrait at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1840, he moved south to Virginia.

Browne was a sought after portraitist throughout the south, garnering commissions from numerous prominent families in North Carolina and Virginia. He maintained studios in both Richmond, VA and Raleigh, NC. Grimes family tradition holds that he had a studio in the backyard of the Williams Grimes home in the 400 block of Halifax Street, circa 1865.

Scattered areas of re-touch to dark ground surrounding figure, some re-touch visible at hairline, some areas of over-cleaning, stable craquelure.

$2,000 - 4,000